Long ago there used to be a lot of Wild Animals in Ireland but nowadays they are not so plentiful The most common – wild animals around this district are the Deer, fox, ferret, waterdog, hare, rabbit, hedgehog and weasel. The Deer is not very plentiful in this district. There was a deer rambling through Castle-grove wood not very long ago and it went away from that to Knock-ma.
The fox is the most cunning of wild animals in this district. Every Sunday all the men of this district go out with their hounds and guns shooting them. The prey of the fox is hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, young lambs, hares and rabbits. When a fox gets into a fowlhouse and cannot get out he lies down and pretends to be dead until he gets his way out clear. The fox lives in the bogs down in deep holes Alot of people get a ferret for hunting rabbits and hares out of their burrows.
The weasel is an animal thats lives in walls. Once there was a man living in Lehid. The people of the village used to call him padraig dearg. One day he was cleaning a bog-hole and he got a nest of weasels He drowned them all except one of the young ones he killed. After a while he went home for his dinner. When he was returning from his dinner he met all the weasels that he drowned carrying the coffin. All the weasels made towards the man and the man had to go down on his knees with fear that he never would kill a weasel again. When the man went back to where he was cleaning the bog hole he could not find his spade. He went home and told his story to his mother and she told him never again to touch a weasel. The weasels usually lives on the blood of fowl and small animals.
The hare and the rabbit usually live in burrows under ground in the bog. They live in grass and water for food.
The waterdog is a wild animal that live in the bank of the river. He live on certain kind of fish and water. He builds his nest high up on the side of the bank in case of a big flood would come and destroy it.
The hedgehog is an animal that crawls along the ground. It is all covered over with sharp thorns Some people kill it and boil it and drink the soup of it for the whooping cough. Once a farmer had a lot of geese and one night the fox came, he brought them one by one to his den. At last the farmer heard him and he went out. When the fox saw him he lied down and the farmer thought he was dead so he went in home and the fox got away.
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